Liam Talbot has thrown a barb in the direction of billionaire business owner Yasser Shahin after the pair collided in the GT World Challenge Australia finale at Phillip Island.
Talbot and his co-driver Fraser Ross were on course for a second place finish in their Audi R8 LMS GT3 when Shahin caught up and tried to pass in his Porsche 911 GT3 R.
A forceful move at Miller Corner saw Shahin drop his car onto the grass and push Talbot wide of the corner exit.
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Both of the cars, worth nearly $1 million, sustained cosmetic damage.
Shahin, who shared his car with sports car specialist Garnet Patterson, was penalised for the incident and had five seconds added to his race time.
Those five seconds were enough to drop Shahin to third, giving Talbot and Ross second place.
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Speaking after the race, Talbot was none too happy with Shahin’s on-track antics.
“People don’t care about other drivers on the track and it’s a non-contact sport,” Talbot told Stan Sport’s Chris Stubbs.
“Not only having the contact at MG (turn 10), which was so unnecessary and obviously compromised my car, then he pushes me off the track.
“That’s not racing, that’s desperation and it’s just bad sportsmanship.”
A day earlier, Shahin and Patterson won the weekend’s opening race only to be stripped of the result for going too slow under safety car conditions.
That dropped the pair off the podium and to fourth.
“We saw it yesterday with the safety car restart. He baulked the field, almost caused a massive crash,” said Talbot.
“Now he’s done this. You can’t trust this person on track. He shouldn’t even race. Maybe he should be disqualified.”
Asked whether he would try to speak with Shahin, Talbot offered a firm “no.”
“You can’t speak to him,” said Talbot.
“He doesn’t listen. I’m not going to waste my time.”
Talbot and Shahin are well-known names in the business world.
Shahin is a part owner in the Peregrine Corporation with brothers Khalil and Sam, which owns and operates On The Run service stations in South Australia.
The brothers reportedly had a combined net worth of $1.93 billion in 2021, putting them among the top 250 richest individuals in the country.
Talbot, meanwhile, is the son of the late mining magnate Ken Talbot, who was the boss of Macarthur Coal.
Talbot and his family were embroiled in a lengthy court case to determine how the businessman’s wealth would be split.
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